On Christmas day, I was surprised by an e-mail from a Swedish christian residing in Mongolia. I knew THE CHURCHWARDEN was reaching a wider audience than just men and women in the United States. But Mongolia? Wow! The mystery of divine providence--not the power of the Internet--is truly awesome.
Perhaps it may honor the Lord to share a bit the correspondence (with some editing, of course) between Mr. Mats Berbres and I as proof of fact that the body of Christ extends to the ends of the earth. To Him be the glory!
Dear Perry,
Christmas greetings from the far West.
I'm a Swede living in Mongolia and through internet one is able to find out such excellent things as The Churchwarden. I was looking for links and info about the pipe with the same name and found your web site.�What a nice surprise.
I was into fly fishing for a wile in my early twenties but couldn't afford anything else than glass fiber. My friend and mentor in that field has several split canes, and was I drooling. He had a short rod with a snow white line. It was so beautiful to see him against the spruce and birch backdrop in a black watered creek.
Done my fair share of small game hunting to before I left Sweden for Mongolia.
Sweden, like USA, is very anti smoking especially among Christians, so finding your site was interesting. I myself would like to enjoy a bowl every once in a wile, but the Mongolia culture doesn't make room for that either. Even the pagans think smoking is a sign of weak character and bad taste, even though most men and some women smoke. A world of contradictions.
I'm not sure what I could be labeled as when it comes to theology, since I have a Swedish pentecostal baptist (They do exist. Internationally called Interact, formerly Orebro mission) background with mixed in faith movement and vineyard influences, lately topped with YWAM School of Biblical Studies ideas (inductive study method and very conservative theology. Sometimes accused by other YWAMers as Calvinistic). Quite some mix, don't you think?
I was surprised to read that no one went for your book offer. Even though I'm counted as a missionary, I don't teach or preach on a regular basis and when, usually with picked topics so my choice is limited, otherwise I would have gone for it. I think that one can not have to many books, only wish I read more of those I have.
Justification through Christ alone, by grace through faith, can not be stressed enough. It is amazing and/or strange that after 1000 years of Christianity in Sweden it is still needed for that truth to be preached. And your country claim it is founded by good Christians, and still there is�a need for it.
In Mongolia one has first to convince them that they are sinners, then tell them that their own efforts never can please God and be enough for redemption. It is an interesting mix of ideas here. The foundation is shamanistic with Tibetan Buddhism on top of that. Everything spiced with 70 years of Communistic indoctrination and Soviet Russian imperialism.
Well, I'm not going to kill you with one e-mail. I'm very sorry if I have bored you between turkey and cake.
I wish you�a blessed Holiday season and may you find time to enjoy many bowls of your finest blends.
Best regards,
Mats Berbres
Dear Mats:
What a pleasant Christmas surprise! I never thought THE CHURCHWARDEN would have a reader in Mongolia, but I am very happy that you enjoy the publication and hope you continue reading for a long time.
There is, by the way, nothing wrong with fiberglass rods. I have three or four of them and fish each with a great degree of regularity. In fact, today (December 26th) I will be casting Woolly Buggers to rainbows with a seven-foot one piece Lamiglas 5-weight. It has oversized guides which help to lengthen the amount of time before ice becomes a problem. I do not know what kind of fishing Mongolia has, but never be afraid to put your old rods to work.
It is too bad you cannot smoke the pipe without giving offense. If that situation ever changes, let me know. I will mail a good pipe and some fine tobacco to your snail mail address. Matches, also.
If you would, please tell me how I can send you the book on justification by faith. I still have two copies left and would love for you to have one.
Tell me about your ministry, how a Swede ended up in Mongolia, and so forth.
Merry Christmas,
Perry Fuller
Dear Perry,
Thank you very much for your mail.
To be honest I was very moved and had to collect myself before I could tell my wife about it.
You are a very generous person.
I have been living here in Erdenet, the 3rd city in Mongolia, for 6 and a half years now. I came summer 95 to help to start the first private bakery in town. I spent two years doing that, during those two years I�got to know many people and one woman in particular. So I did like it says in the Book, and took of the fruit of the land, and married her in 97. So now I can get residency 5 years at the time. In May 99 our daughter arrived, so life has changed a lot for me the last years.
After our wedding I started to develop my leather work hobby trying to turn it into a livelihood. Contrary to what one might think, there is no good leather to find here, but there are a lot of rawhide. So I have to get good stuff brought in from the States. So even if I was buying the cheapest hides around, it is still almost to much for the average Mongol. I have also been teaching in the different bible schools that have been running here. And last spring I was a student myself, as I wrote before.
Lately I have been the economical adviser to the manager of the church's mercy ministry. We are giving about 50 of the poorest persons a square meal a day and most of the staff was long time unemployed peoples so they have also got a change of living conditions.
Mongols don't fish traditionally because of Buddhism so those that do give it a�try can bag some real humongous things. An American MD that lives in UB has bagged bass of enormous proportions, they say. There are also different kinds of trout etc. I have heard about Swedish travel agencies that are arranging fishing trips here. �Unfortunately I haven't been able to travel that much here, so I have never tried to fish. Many people have talked of taking me on a hunting trip but it doesn't go beyond talking and I don't push it to hard either. Most hunting trips (that don't ruin you over and over) are done with Russian jeeps, and Kalashnikov with full metal jacket ammo. Not what I think of when I think hunting.
Traditionally Mongols smoke long-stemmed pipes with small metal bowls and jade mouthpieces (the size and quality of the jade determines the value of the pipe. I have a bad tourist one). In the old days when they had everything they needed on their body, knife and chopsticks on one side, the spark on the other, in silver chains, the food bowl in one small bag and the tobacco pouch tucked in the sash, the pipe was put in the boot. Rich people with long mouthpieces had to take the pipe apart and put one half in each boot. In a pouch on the belly was the snuff bottle. It is made of stone and if one is rich, corral. Snuff bottles are OK because they are part of the old greeting ritual, but the snort snuff doesn't do anything to you more that making you sneeze. My father-in-law used to snort mountains placed on his thumb nail. He passed away just before we (my wife and I, that is) got married. I attached some pictures of a knife and spark, pipe with pouch and a snuff bottle.
We are working on her visa for Sweden because I'm in�a need of a break and we will go to Sweden for a stiff year. Then back to Mongolia. I hope to be able to get some further education while being there. A friend recommended Teaching adults classes. I didn't even know such things existed. I have also read about something called Walk through the Bible. It is like a one or two day workshop where the participants will get the overall picture of the bible, memorize the books and get a better understanding what happened when. it sounds like something that would be good here. The Mongols have had their full bible for just a year, and there is a great need for good teaching. We don't want to see people start to sacrifice their daughters because of Judges.
Well this gets lengthy. Please excuse my lack of grammar and correct spelling. I don't know why, but the spell check doesn't work in Outlook Express. So you have to bear with me.
Once again, thank you very much.
May the Sure Swift Hand be heavy upon you and your family and may the New year be very Happy.
Mats
ps. I have to confess that I was tempted to lie to you and say that there had been a sudden, unforeseen change in the view of pipe smoking in Mongolia, but we must stick to the truth mustn't we?
Mats:
I just got home from the post office. Your volume on justification by faith, along with several others of a biblical/theological nature, are on the way to your humble mailbox in Erdenet. My guess is that Christian literature is pretty hard to come by in Mongolia.
Thus, to make the package a real surprise, I figured I'd toss in a bunch of extra books that may be of some help in your studies and teaching. Also included is a sample of John Gierach's work. Gierach is Colorado based fly fisherman who writes some pretty good stories on the passion of angling with a fly.
By the way, if I were you, I'd gather up some gear and head out for hooking those giant bass. Forget about the cultural taboo. The biblical mandate is to have dominion over the earth. Consider fly fishing as part of your Christian witness. I'm only half-joking, here.
To God be the glory,
Perry
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